User Ratings & Reviews

The bar is funky with a pretty good selection of beer but this place rocks because it has two fantastic bocce courts out back. Nothing better than drinking a great beer and playing bocce! The location is in an interesting part of town. Also has a great fire pit. Had a great time.

So many people who live in Minneapolis rave about this place. It’s a good place to go with a large group of friends. They have bocce ball outside and an oversized Jenga game inside. It kind of feels like they just happen to have pretty good beer, and not necessarily like it’s a focus of the bar.

This was the second stop of our Cedar Avenue section of our pub crawl.

Nomad was a decent place, but it definitely had the feel of a borderline sports bar. Big "hi-def" televisions on the walls. The atmosphere was welcoming but nothing noteworthy. Old time feel of the dark wood and the like.

Service was decent. The bartender offered a small taste of something I inquired about, but I chose to just try the whole thing. The selection was about what I would expect for a beer bar. They had some beers that I had never tried before which is always a plus. Which I guess is a segue or lack of one into the selection. We didn't have any food. The selection was a little better than the Triple Rock social club, but the atmosphere was more of a "passing through" type of crowd than a bunch of regulars.

While out on a Saturday night, some friends recomended this place, that I had not heard of. Boy was I surprised by the selection! I initially thought that we were entering a typical college bar and even had to wait in a short line out in a light snow. There was a live band of exceptional quality doing originals of neo-soul/dance tunes, which was great. Between the beers and the music, this was a nice find. I don't live in the Minnesota area, but on future trips back, this will definitely be one of my stops to hit even earlier!

I stopped here on my way to the Dome to catch a Twins game. I walked into a friendly local pub with a great selection of beers, and felt right at home. I had a few Surly's on tap and was asked to play bocce ball with some of the locals. After talking to the owner Todd he informed me that they had several firkin events thought the year. Service was great, a total WIN!!!! This was a huge find, and if you want a diamond in the ruff, this is it. Thanks for the great time and I'll be back. And I'll have to catch one of the music events.

And if you ever you put that golf tourney together, please post it, I'll be waiting.

I can't help but compare this to the Milwaukee version of the Nomad. The Minneapolis version diefinitely avoided my biggest complaint about the former -- the crowd here was much more down to earth, almost blue collar, and seemingly more genuinely Bohemian (as opposed to the Bohemian wannabes in Milwaukee). However, the beer list is a little weaker (and Milwaukee's ain't great). Still, it's pleasant enough, and the "beer culture" is good enough, that it's worth a stop if you're in the neighborhood. And they did have a coule of Surly beers, so that's always good.

Their slogan is "Travel the world and never leave your bar stool", and the place is peopled with the internationalist proletariat (trust-fund baby or not). But truth be told I haven't set foot in this building since it housed the 5 Corners Saloon, and apart from the building itself (more on that later), the place has certainly changed. Gone is the steady diet of reggae and indie rock, now there's a more even mix, with everything from jam bands to hip hop, funk, and the occasional alt-country and cover band. But even when there are bands playing you can watch Football (or "Soccer" to us Yanks) on the televisions fore and aft. Indeed Football is a running theme here, with the week's televised matches marked on one of the many chalkboards in the place. The selfsame chalkboards run end to end atop the long bar, which is off to your right upon entry, and on these you'll find listed the current draught and bottled beer offerings, daily and weekly specials, and a list of late-night appetizers. The World Pub has its roots in Milwaukee, and theres camaraderie between the two venues (and for what it's worth, the website for the Minneapolis location recently had a facelift, and the Milwaukee location is following suit). This is a fairly spacious place with plenty of seating all around. About a half a dozen 4-top tables dot the center of the room, with an additional dozen stools at the afforementioned bar, and another half dozen two-tops partly serviced by a bench running all along the left hand wall. Speaking of that left hand wall, if you follow it all the way to the back of the room you'll find the door leading to their outdoor Bocce courts, where there is yet more seating and the area is fenced-in so as to allow some degree of privacy. And least I forget you Smokers, youll find the entrance to their year-round (heated) patio off to the right of the stage, at the end of the bar. It's worth noting that this is not a small place, in fact it's slightly larger than the 400 Bar, and with higher ceilings and better sightlines to boot. This makes for some great acoustics coming from the artists showcased on the raised stage at the back of the room. As for beer, their bottled selection rivals the nearby Triple Rock, and their ten taps offer both hometown favorites (Surly, Summit, Schell's) and the same familiar imports (Stella, Boddington's, Guinness) youll see all over town. Why they have Kronenbourg in both bottle and on draught is beyond me, just as I can't figure on why they don't bite on Tusker from Kenya, as the rest of their bottles are a good representative of the imported beers available in the Twin Cities, and definitely play into the "World Pub" theme. A bit surprised to find no Nastro Azzuro in the house, but not surprised at the Belgian selections (Leffe Blond, Lindeman's Framboise, Delerium Tremens), all of which are pretty common nowadays. Its nice to see the likes of Hue and Toohey (and yes, they're listed like that) as theyre not very common (in fact Im wondering what local house carries these?!?), and yes, they carry the newest in craft beer innovations (ahem, Surly cans), but have no doubt that Id like to see a lot more in the way of craft beer and oddball imports. But from the looks of past offerings the Nomad is certainly on the right track. There was no menu that I could see, but the late night appetizer menu looked promising, so Ill be back some day soon to give the place another shot, even if it it's not part of my "usual" bar itinerary. * Note: this is one of the oldest bars in the Twin Cities, and its been well-kept: gorgeous red brick, embossed tin on the ceiling, beautiful dark wood bar front and rear. Its the perfect location for a dive bar, but Im glad to see it put to more creative use.

By no means a great selection of beer, but more than enough to keep a beer lover happy. The strength lies in their bottled beers that includes the likes of Goose Island IPA, SNPA and Unibrou Maudite. It a bit dark with a bar running the length of room. Outside there's a grass badmitten court (awesome!) and a crushed rock bocce court. The bartender was very friendly and attentive, although we were in early. Either way it was pretty good service.

A very worthy stop if you're doing a Blue Nile-Cedar Ave.-Town Hall crawl. Sit outside, watch drunks play badmitten and listen to the live music coming from across the step or indoors. A pretty cool place overall.

When I got there it was happy hour and after reviewing one of the chalkboards it looks like most hours the bar is open is a happy hour. They had 10 taps with 14 "native" bottles and 23 imports but nothing really stood out that I had to have. I ordered a draft that I hadn't tried before and I was really expecting it to be really good I was just curios. When the bartender came back she brought me two beers. She read the strange look on my face and said happy hours are 2 for 1 beers. So I had to wade through 2 boring beers instead of one.

The music jumped from hardrock to indi to country pretty quickly and the ductwork behind the bar was painted with chalkboard paint to serve as the menu/specials/ fun quotes/ general ramblings board. The rest of the walls had student art for sale, which was interesting to look at while sipping a pint or two.

It was an interesting little hip collage place but to close to town hall to visit again.

Located on the fertile beer corridor which includes Town Hall, Triple Rock, and the Blue Nile. Freestanding old building, looks like a renovated 30's storefront, possibly. Pressed tin ceiling looks great, big bar, with some cool pew-like bench seat up against the wall. The service was fast, as the bar was almost empty, except for 5-6 people drinking PBR tall-boys while watching Family Guy. Not the worst thing I have seen at a bar. Selection was worldy, but also middle of the road. 9 beers on tap. Boddington's, Strongbow, St. Pauli Girl, Summit EPA, Newcastle, Beamish, and Kronenbourg (which I tried on tap, much better than bottled, IMO). There were also 30~ bottles, Duvel, Liefman's, Sierra Nevada, Czech Rebel, and several other above-average offerings. I like the bar, the selection could be better, but I am sure you can find something you will like.

This is quite a nice little place. It is basically one, long room, with the bar against the long wall when you walk in, and a stage at the far end of the bar. They have seating all along before the stage, it's a bit crowded but not too bad. They have a real nice out door area along the side with a lot of seating and a fire place you can sit and stir up. The service is pretty good, I am a sucker for cute bartenders who actually can talk beer. They have 10 taps, and 20 or so bottles. The taps especially are usually of some pretty high quality stuff. This is a great place to see a show at, but you could probably find a beer bar with a little better selection if that's the reason you are going out.

Man, is this place eclectic! My friend, Bill Caperton, our tour guide last weekend (17 to 19 December 2005) tells us that it is for the Lonely Planet set - little bit of everything for the world travellers to enjoy while in town. Fine by me.

Especially fine by me are ten (10) taps on two (2) Belgian towers, complete with built-in rinsers. Now, let's get some stats so that we'll know where I'm sending you. Thirty-six (36) bottled beers, four (4) of which are BMC; ten (10) taps/one (1) BMC; six (6) cans/zero (0) BMC. That begins to hone in my attention, even if you're not big on stats.

The space itself is pretty wide open, from the moment that you set foot in the door until you run into their stage all of the way aft, where they routinely have live music acts (five nights a week), which is part of the reason that Bill know of the place. Tables and chairs line the left wall, the bar runs most of the right wall, and there are scattered tables and chairs in the middle. Just beyond the end of the bar, headed aft, is a doorway leading onto a biergarten/smoking area, which in winter is referred to as "The Wake-Up Room", and actually encompasses all of outdoors. The DJ on a local radio station announced on Saturday night, "Well, it's 10:24 in the Twin Cities and a whopping 7 degrees out with a wind chill of ... (Pause) Actually, if you're listening to this and you're outside, you'd probably rather not hear of the wind chill." Wake up, indeed. Like a slap in the face. Just before this door are some posters advertising women's Roller Derby, which Bill says is big in the area, especially on Sunday nights. I really dug the one that was an homage to the Circle Jerks' Skank Boy.

Back to the bar. The bar itself is beautifully polished wood and the back bar seems to be straight out of the Art Deco period with its lamps and mirrors. Our server was a Nordic blonde who was concerned for my well-being as I was having one heavy duty beverage after the other until I gave her my business card and showed her a copy of the column. Suddenly, I had a new fan. Speaking of new fan, I love Grain Belt! They have it here, in case anyone, other than myself, might be looking.

The art on the walls seems to be championing the mediocre, but what the hey? I didn't come here for the art. They also have a bunch of travel books on a window ledge above the steam heat radiators, which was fortuitous, since I had been regaling my companions with tales of the Phillippines while at Town Hall and here was a Phillippine travel guide which allowed me to show them that it wasn't all sea stories. My notes actually say "Yet another midwestern pressed-tin ceiling." Is it possible that I might be becoming blase? Oh, I hope not.

Okay, now for the big draw for us on this particular evening - Roshambo every Sunday night for $. This is high-intensity Rock/Paper/Scissors played in brackets, winnowing down to the final two players. On this night, it was the two former college roommates, Bill and David Atkinson, facing off and David had an 8 to 1 advantage before finally bowing out to Bill, 10 to 8. The other (highly illegal) game is "Dollar, Dollar, Dollar!", but they won't let you play unless they either know you or someone vouches for you. They won't play at all if there are any unknowns in the crowd, but it's a high-intensity game involving dice and dollar bills.

Watch for a triumphant return by yours truly this coming summer (2006).